Article dispenser with plural spring interlock

ABSTRACT

Manually operated storage and dispensing cabinet for articles and packages characterized by a plurality of slidable drawers, each manually movable from a position beneath a stack or tier of articles or packages in the cabinet to a dispensing position outside of the cabinet, incorporating drawer interlock mechanism which permits only one drawer to be withdrawn at a time to its dispensing position during a manual operation, and a counter operated in response to movement of the withdrawn drawer; also incorporates a lock for each drawer which prevents its withdrawal after the last article or package resting on same has been dispensed, whereby the counter is precluded from recording in the event an attempt is made to withdraw an empty drawer which otherwise would effect an erroneous count of articles and packages actually moved to their dispensed positions.

United States Patent [72] Inventors Robert E. l-lendrieksou Carbondale,Colo. 8 1623; William R. Slattery, Route 1, Box 139, Glenwood Springs,Colo. 81601 {21] Appl. No. 831,026 [22] Filed June 6, 1969 [45] PatentedDec. 28, 1971 {54] ARTICLE DISPENSER WITH PLURAL SPRING INTERLOCK 3Claims, 7 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S.Cl.... 221/125 [51] Int. Cl 865g 59/06 [50] Field of Search221/7, 152, 125, 256

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,220,870 11/1940 Nitschman221/7 X 2,872,009 2/1959 Ridingsetal.

Primary ExaminerStanley H. Tollberg Attorney-Sheridan, Ross & BurtonABSTRACT: Manually operated storage and dispensing cabinet for articlesand packages characterized by a plurality of slidable drawers, eachmanually movable from a position beneath a stack or tier of articles orpackages in the cabinet to a dispensing position outside of the cabinet,incorporating drawer interlock mechanism which permits only one drawerto be withdrawn at a time to its dispensing position during a manualoperation, and a counter operated in response to movement of thewithdrawn drawer; also incorporates a lock for each drawer whichprevents its withdrawal after the last article or package resting onsame has been dispensed, whereby the counter is precluded from recordingin the event an attempt is made to withdraw an empty drawer whichotherwise would effect an erroneous count of articles and packagesactually moved to their dispensed positions.

Patented Deli.- 28, 1971 3,630,410

' 5 Sheets- Shoat 1 INVENTORS WILLIAM R. SLATTERY ROBERT E. HENDRICKSONATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 28, 1971 3,630,410

3 shuts-shod z uml m 4o IN VE N TORS WILLIAM. R 5 LA T-TE RY ROBERT E.HENDRICK SON BY I I 6" M ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 28, 1971 3,630,410

5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORS WILLIAM R'SLATTERY ROBERT E. HENDRICKSON BY TT 6 Y A ATTORNEYS ARTICLE DISPENSER WITH PLURAL SPRING INTERLOCKBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the art of maintenance of inventories ofmerchandise which passes through a sales organization it is an old andwellknown practice to conduct periodic inventories of stock on hand ordetermine stock sold over a period which is the difference between apresent inventory and a previous inventory. This'presents nodifficulties where the merchandise is under the custodianship of asingle person since the change .of inventory over a period may beattributed to his control over same. Where the merchandise is under thecontrol of various custodians, however, it is apparent that the changeof inventory cannot readily be attributed to a single person. This has,accordingly, invited petty pilfering and in some cases major theft ofmerchandise by custodians. The maintenance of inventories of somemerchandise, such as bulk material, is difficult to maintain since itmust be measured periodically by weight or volume. Many materials,however, have long been marketed in packages, which simplifiesinventories since only a package count is required; thus, many types ofmerchandise, such as certain foods, motor oils, cigarettes and othersare packaged in containers, rectangular containers usually beingpreferred since they may be stocked in a minimum space, althoughcylindrically shaped containers are also involved. It thus becomesapparent that if such packages could be disposed in a locked containerand accurately counted when removed from same by a custodian, anaccurate control over sales could be maintained since gross receipts ofsales by a custodian would bear a relationship to the number of packagesdisposed in one or more containers and render it difficult for thecustodian to divert monetary receipts to his own use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A pivoted locking plate having fingers on same,one for each drawer, and urged to inoperative position by a bar spring,is coupled to each drawer by a drawer spring which exerts a force on thebar insufficient to rotate it against the urge of the bar spring untilafter a drawer has been withdrawn beyond a position at which it may belocked, further movement then producing sufficient force by the drawerspring to rotate the bar and engage the fingers with abutments on theremaining drawers, locking same against withdrawal. Substantiallysimultaneously with the locking of the remaining drawers, movement ofthe locking plate operates a conventional oscillating arm typemechanical counter, thereby recording the number of packages actuallydispensed. Movement of the locking plate may also be used to actuate abell or the like to give an audible indication of drawers opening. Toprevent a false total number from being recorded by the withdrawal of anempty drawer, each drawer is provided with a pivoted latch which remainsin unlatched position so long as a package rests on the drawer in itsclosed position but which automatically moves to a latched position inthe absence of a package resting on same, thus preventing withdrawal ofan empty drawer. Another feature resides in the drawer floorconstruction of two levels which permits a succeeding package to bedispensed to fall, first to an upper level at which it blocks closing ofan open drawer if the package resting on same is not removed, thusprecluding return of the dispensed package into the cabinet, closing ofthe drawer permitting the upper level to slide beneath the partiallydropped succeeding package until it returns to closed position at whichpoint the succeeding package completely falls to the lower level and atwhich an abutment between the two levels engages the rear surface of thesucceeding package for its subsequent withdrawal from the cabinet. Afurther feature resides in the relationship of the drawer spring and barspring constants which effects movement of the bar to locked position inthe event an attempt is made to simultaneously open two drawers, therebylocking both drawers against withdrawal. Removal of the withdrawingforce on one drawer, however, permits the other drawer to operate in themode first described. Thus, in the first mode an opening or withdrawalforce on one drawer permits it to open, locking the remaining drawersand in the second mode an opening force on two drawers locks bothagainst opening but permits one to be opened when the opening force isremoved from the other. A still further but optional feature resides inthe use of a spring for each drawer which automatically closes it aftera package is removed from it when in its open position. It will thus beapparent that when a drawer is moved to open position with a packageresting on same the succeeding package partially drops and blocksclosing of the drawer. When the package is lifted from the open drawer,however, the blocking action is removed and the drawer closing springmay then return the drawer to its closed position.

Thus, a principal objective of the invention resides in the provision ofapparatus which operates in accordance with the concepts embodied in thefeatures above set forth. Further objects, advantages and salientfeatures will become more apparent from the detailed description tofollow, the appended claims, and the accompanying drawing to now bebriefly described.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an isometric front and endview of a dispensing container or cabinet, forming the subject of theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a like rear and end view with the rear closing panel and otherparts omitted;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged rear elevation as viewed in the direction of arrow3, FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a section taken at a vertical plane between and parallel tothe front and rear faces of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 5 is a section taken at a vertical plane perpendicular to the frontand rear faces of FIGS. I and 2;

FIG. 6 is a section like FIG. 5 illustrating another position of parts,and

FIG. 7 is an enlarged detail of FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawing,and first to FIGS. 1 to 4, cabinet or dispensing container 10 comprises,in general, a rectangular box-shaped structure closed at all sides, thefront face as best shown in FIG. 1, having a door 12 hinged along itsupper edge and secured in closed position by a lock 14 which when inopen position, provides access to the cabinet for replenishing itspackages. Its front face is also provided with windows 16 through whichits contents may be viewed and a plurality of drawers 18 for removingits contents, one package at a time. One of the end walls is providedwith a hinged door 20, locked by a lock 21, having a window 22 throughwhich a counter 24, to subsequently be described, may be viewed. Whenopen, the door provides access to the counter for resetting it to adesired reading such as zero. As best shown in FIG. 2, counter 24 isdisposed on a shelf 26 adjacent window 22, lock 21 also beingillustrated. FIG. 2 also illustrates the arrangement of drawers 18 tosubsequently be described in more detail.

As best shown in FIG. 4, vertical partitions 30 are provided between thedrawers 18 which are disposed between the front face of the cabinet anda parallel partition 32 (see FIG. 5) dividing the cabinet into parallelrectangular chutes 34 the cross-sectional shape of which is slightlylarger than the rectangular packages 36 contained in stacked arrangementor tiers.

Drawers 18 are identical hence a description for one will serve for all.Referring first to FIGS. 3 and 4, each drawer is generally rectangularin cross section and is guided for slidable movement on a dovetail guideor runner 38, the runners being supported by a shelf 40. As best shownin FIG. 5, each drawer may be moved from the full line position to thedotted line position at which a package 36 may be removed. Any suitableknob, handle or finger recess (not shown) may be provided on its endwall 42 for manually withdrawing it from its closed position. It ispreferably closed automatically, after removing the package, by a spring44, the ends of which are attached in any suitable manner to the cabinetand the drawer. As illustrated, one end of spring 44 is secured to a pin46 secured to the cabinet and the other end to a pin 48 secured to thedrawer and slidable in a slot 50 in shelf 40.

Each drawer is provided with a flat lower floor 52 and an elevated floor54, an abutment surface 56 joining the two floors, as best shown in FIG.5. in the full line position of the drawer, lowermost package 36 isresting on floor 52 and is ready to be withdrawn from the tier, thepackage being captured between abutment 56 and drawer front end wall 42.When the drawer is withdrawn to the dotted position as shown in FIG. 5,the succeeding package falls onto elevated floor 54 and hence its lowersurface is disposed in the plane of dotted line 58 which is between theupper and lower planes of the package resting on the withdrawn drawer.It thus becomes apparent that the drawer cannot be closed with thewithdrawn package resting on it since the succeeding package now blocksreturn or closing movement of the drawer. When the package is removed,however, elevated floor 54 may slide beneath the succeeding package andwhen abutment 56 returns to the full line position the rear edge of thesucceeding package drops across abutment 56 and off of elevated floor54, assuming .a position on the floor the same as the former dispensedpackage. As will be further apparent an operator need not close the doorafter removing the package from its dispensed position since spring 44will automatically serve this function. Spring 44, while desireable, isnot essential and if omitted would require the manual closing of an opendoor before another package could be dispensed.

An important feature of the invention resides in the drawer interlockwhich permits only one package to be dispensed at a time therebyproviding an accurate inventory count since the counter is operated inresponse to the opening of only a single drawer. The mechanism forperforming this function comprises a locking bar 60 hinged to thecabinet by a piano hinge 62, the bar having spaced identical fingers 64,one for each drawer. Each drawer is connected to the bar by a spring 66and the bar is urged to a normal inoperative position by a spring 68,best shown in FIGS. 2 and 7. The elevated floor 54, as best shown inFIG. 7, of each drawer is provided with a recess forming a firstabutment 70 and a second abutment 72. In the operation of this mechanismit will first be assumed that an operator starts to withdraw a firstdrawer and subsequently attempts to withdraw a second drawer. During theinitial travel of a drawer, the end of a finger 64 clears the surface offloor 54 since the tension in spring 66 is insufficient to pivot thelocking bar against its spring 68. As tension in spring 66 increases,however, the ends of all of the remaining fingers 64 ride along surfaces74 in the remaining drawers and upon continued tensioning of spring 66on the drawer being opened, the remaining fingers are urged off ofsurfaces 74 and drop against abutments 72 in the remaining drawerslocking them against withdrawal. Otherwise stated, one drawer may bepartially withdrawn beyond a position at which it may be locked and uponslight further movement its withdrawal motion actuates the locking barto lock all of the remaining drawers against withdrawal. In a slightlydifferent mode of operation it will be assumed that the operatorattempts to withdraw two drawers simultaneously. In this case, thetension in two springs 66 is twice the tension in the previous describedmode and is sufficient to move the locking bar to a position locking alldrawers against withdrawal with the fingers abutting abutments 70. Aswill be apparent, however, if the opening force on one drawer isreleased, thus applying the force of only one spring to the bar, theother drawer may be opened as described in the first mode.

The counter 24 employed may be of the conventional Veeder-Root type orits equivalent which is provided with a ratchet mechanism (not shown)and an oscillating arm 78 which registers one count for each cycle ofmovement of the arm. The arm is connected to the locking bar by a link80, see

FIG. 3, and the final movement requisite to advance the counter onecount takes place substantially at the same. time the remaining drawersare locked by the bar by abutments 72.

To prevent opening of a drawer when no packages remain above a drawerand thus effecting a false count, a latch 82 is pivotally carried byeach drawer which is maintained in unlatched position by the weight of apackage. When the last package is removed by a drawer the latch falls toa position, as best shown in FIG. 6, wherein its end 84 engages anabutment 86, preventing withdrawal of same. As will be apparent, thelatch may be gravity operated or urged toward latching position by alight spring insufficient to move it to latched position until the.lastpackage is dispensed.

The apparatus of this invention also includes means for preventingopening of any of the drawers. Said means includes a lock mounted onshelf 26. The lock 90 engages a rod 92 which extends through a pair ofcoaligned openings, one of which is formed in shelf 26 and the otherwhich is formed in a flange 94 which is securely attached to a sidewallof the ap paratus. The rod 92 is biased in an upwardly direction by aspring 96 disposed intermediate a boss 98 formed on said rod 92 and asurface portion of the flange 94. In the unlocked condition, the rod 92does not exert any appreciable downward force upon the locking bar 60;however, in the locked condition each of the fingers 64 engages thefirst abutment 70 of each of the drawers l8 and as a result none of thedrawers 18 can be opened. Thus, by incorporating this particular meanswithin the apparatus of this invention, it is possible to leave theapparatus completely unattended without incurring the risk ofunauthorized removal of articles or packages therefrom.

While the counting device has been illustrated and described as acomponent within the cabinet and mechanically operated by movement ofthe locking bar it will be apparent that the counting device may belocated elsewhere. For example, if a number of dispensing machines areemployed and it is desired to maintain records of their dispensednumbers of packages at a central locus, the locking plate may operate aswitch which operates a counter by a solenoid, a plurality of suchcounters being located at the central locus, whereby the inventory ofall machines may be known at the central locus. It will be furtherapparent that such a switch may be selectively connected to any suitablealarm device which will indicate that a package has been removed fromthe cabinet. Thus, during nonattendance of a custodian of the machineunauthorized operation of same may signal such alarm to safeguardagainst theft or pilfering of the contents of one or more cabinets.

It is to be understood that this invention is not limited to the exactembodiment of the device shown, said embodiment being merely by way ofillustration and not of limitation, as various other forms andmodifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for dispensing articles disposed in a plurality of verticalstacked single tiers in a closed container, comprising:

a. a horizontally slidable drawer disposed beneath each tier having amain floor upon which a tier rests when the drawer is disposed in anormally closed position;

b. an abutment on the drawer for engaging the lowermost article fortransporting it to a dispensing position when the drawer is moved to anopen position;

c. an elevated floor on the drawer upon which a succeeding article maypartially fall when the drawer is moved to open position and adapted topermit said succeeding article to fall completely to the main floor whenthe drawer is moved to closed position to permit said abutment to engagesaid succeeding article in like manner;

d. moveable drawer interlocking apparatus operatively associated witheach drawer adapted to permit a single drawer to be opened and toprevent two drawers to be opened;

e. means operatively associated with the last article in a tier forpreventing the opening of a drawer after the last article has beendispensed from same; and

f. a counting device operated by said interlocking device for recordingthe number of articles dispensed;

g. said interlocking apparatus comprising a moveable member havinglocking members on same for engaging locking abutments on each drawer,first spring means for urging the moveable member to an inoperativeposition, and second spring means connecting each drawer with themoveable member, the construction and arrangement being such that theforce of the second spring means for a single drawer, when a singledrawer is moved toward open position, is insufficient to overcome thefirst spring means until the drawer has been moved beyond a position atwhich it may be locked, further movement of the drawer thereafterproviding sufficient force to move the locking members into engagementwith the remaining locking abutments to prevent movement of theremaining drawers and to operate the counting device, the force of thesecond spring means fortwo drawers being sufficient to overcome thefirst spring means when two drawers are simultaneously moved toward openposition and lock their movement.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said locking abutmentson each drawer comprise first and second spaced abutments, the firstabutment on a pair of drawers being engageable with said locking membersafter a single drawer has been moved beyond a locking position, wherebya second drawer may not be moved after a first drawer has been movedbeyond a position at which it may be locked.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 2 wherein said locking memberscomprise a plurality of fingers disposed on a pivoted locking bar.

1. Apparatus for dispensing articles disposed in a plurality of verticalstacked single tiers in a closed container, comprising: a. ahorizontally slidable drawer disposed beneath each tier having a mainfloor upon which a tier rests when the drawer is disposed in a normallyclosed position; b. an abutment on the drawer for engaging the lowermostarticle for transporting it to a dispensing position when the drawer ismoved to an open position; c. an elevated floor on the drawer upon whicha succeeding article may partially fall when the drawer is moved to openposition and adapted to permit said succeeding article to fallcompletely to the main floor when the drawer is moved to closed positionto permit said abutment to engage said succeeding article in likemanner; d. moveable drawer interlocking apparatus operatively associatedwith each drawer adapted to permit a single drawer to be opened and toprevent two drawers to be opened; e. means operatively associated withthe last article in a tier for preventing the opening of a drawer afterthe last article has been dispensed from same; and f. a counting deviceoperated by said interlocking device for recording the number ofarticles dispensed; g. said interlocking apparatus comprising a moveablemember having locking members on same for engaging locking abutments oneach drawer, first spring means for urging the moveable member to aninoperative position, and second spring means connecting each drawerwith the moveable member, the construction and arrangement being suchthat the force of the second spring means for a single drawer, when asingle drawer is moved toward open position, is insufficient to overcomethe first spring means until the drawer has been moved beyond a positionat which it may be locked, further movement of the drawer thereafterproviding sufficient force to move the locking members into engagementwith the remaining locking abutments to prevent movement of theremaining drawers and to operate the counting device, the force of thesecond spring means for two drawers being sufficient to overcome thefirst spring means when two drawers are simultaneously moved toward openposition and lock their movement.
 2. Apparatus in accordance with claim1 wherein said locking abutments on each drawer comprise first andsecond spaced abutments, the first abutment on a pair of drawers beingengageable with said locking members after a single drawer has beenmoved beyond a locking position, whereby a second drawer may not bemoved after a first drawer has been moved beyond a position at which itmay be locked.
 3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 2 wherein saidlocking members comprise a plurality of fingers disposed on a pivotedlocking bar.